The Epoch
by Winged Lady Colette
Summary: Optimus has left Earth and it's people, including Cade and his family, in the protection of the remaining Autobots. In what should have been a simple repair job, something goes horribly wrong and once again the Yeager family is thrown into another tailspin. One that Galvatron won't be so willing to let them escape from. Possible main character death.


**Author's Note: So, here is, yet another story. Although this one is for transformers. Which is a plus. :D I wanted to put this out there just to kind of see what people think. There isn't many with Cade Yeager and his family in it so I thought I'd take a crack at it. This is kind of a fledgling idea so I hope I can find a way to fully mature it into a real good idea. Oh well, we'll see! Let me know what you all think! Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot idea and OC's. :)**

**Warnings: Language, mostly.**

**Word Count: 3,764**

Cade always loved to tinker with things. He had loved to since he was young. He found great passion in seeing how things worked. In making what was once broken and giving it life once more, was unlike anything that Cade could have ever hoped for. It filled him with pride. Cade would scrounge around in junk heaps looking for other things for him to fix up. It was always a dream come true when he managed to fix something that everyone else thought was completely broken. To see the look of awe and happiness in their eyes. It was wonderful and it never stopped being wonderful even when Cade's interests started to veer a bit more onto the prospect of making things rather than just fixing them.

He had made robots of all kinds when he was young but only found real passion in them the five or six years leading up to the Chicago incident. He watched, like the rest of the world, as cybernetic robotic organisms were running around fighting each other, working with each other. Working with humans! The entire prospect was new to Cade. He had always thought that his inventions were just... a means to an end. It was the act of creating something for the world to use. Now it's so much different. Cade saw the Autobots and that changed everything.

He didn't want to create little robots for the sake of other people's amusement, that was what technology without life was for. Like the iphones and refrigerators and televisions. Things like that were fine to be used by people. Robots were... unrealistically touched ground. Even things like VIs, or even AIs, were something that would benefit people. A true unshackled, unrestricted AI was something seen only in movies and games. It was something that, more often than not, turned out to be the antagonist in the story.

But Cade didn't really understand what made Transformers different from anything that humans could create leading up to the hour before he met Optimus Prime, that is. Transformers had a soul. They had something that made them more organic than anything that humans could ever build with their own two hands and metal. Humans have no way of creating a soul. They didn't even really understand what a soul was. Everyone had their theories but there wasn't one solid explanation. Some people thought that they exist and some don't.

Cade often wondered after his whole crazy escapade with the Autobots, if what he said to Optimus was true. The thing that held both life force and memory. Was it really the soul? Perhaps to the Autobots it was. Cade knew that when humans had severe head injuries, they may lose their memory, but what if the soul in a human, isn't just some unseeing force within the body?

What if the soul is made up of the brain, both input and output, and the life energy provided by the heart? Because without one or the other, there wouldn't be a you. Perhaps the brain isn't really making up all the decisions, but it was in fact the soul? What if the brain was merely able to interrupt the desires of the soul and isn't the actual thing to make the decisions?

Cade was well aware of the fact that there have been so many studies on the brain to show what parts do this and what parts do that, but Cade couldn't help but wonder if sections of the brain were dedicated to those areas as a way to compartmentalize all of the input and output to the soul?

Cade Yeager was never someone to really think about things like that, but when he met Optimus, he learned what made his robots so incomplete. Part of it was that he was using junk to make something, but the bigger part was that it lacked a soul. It lacked everything that accompanied having a soul. Wants, needs, desires, memories, energy, thoughts, feelings, a drive to do anything. All the things that made Optimus and Cade the same and made Optimus and all the little useless robots that cluttered up Cade's old home different.

The mechanic then saw people, a little more well off than himself, making robots, much like he himself did. For the purpose of humans. But then he saw what the empty shells could become. They could become like Galvatron and Stinger. Merely a cheep imitation of the real things. And Cade would never again desire to build robots like that. Perhaps there was some good in coming to that realization. Cade could of gone his entire life, wishing for something that would never turn out good. Whether it never works right, or it ends up creating an evil more devastating than it's worth.

Now, Cade has gone back to his original passion. Fixing up what was once broken. With Joshua Joyce's help, he got his home rebuilt and paid off and his own little laboratory for his work. It's wide and more luxurious than anything that he would ever need but he was definitely going to use it to his best potential. It's easier now to fix all of the crazy little gadgets and gizmos. Cade was able to afford to send Tessa to college-in state, he's not crazy- and she comes home often to see him. He's even grown to like her boyfriend, Shane. Or as Cade has come to calling him, "Lucky Charms" for his Irish accent.

To say he was very displeased that his daughter had been dating a boy-at all, let alone a few years- without his knowledge was an understatement. But going through hell with one another and being able to get passed it to get his daughter back made Cade a little more willing to look passed their lies. Any other person would have high-tailed it out of there as fast as he could, but Shane stayed, so he couldn't be all that bad.

As per Optimus's orders, the remaining Autobots stayed close to the Yeager family and Shane, splitting their time up. Bumblebee, Hound, Crosshairs, Drift and Brains could be found around mostly on Cade's property. Bumblebee was the most willing to go back and forth for Tessa whenever she wanted to go somewhere or needed a ride home and Shane wasn't around.

Cade managed to, with Brains' permission of course, repair his leg and put it back on. It was a delicate process and something that wasn't perfect. More often than not the little bot would have to rest because the leg wasn't stable, but he was grateful and didn't complain. Cade felt bad for being able to fully fix the problem, but according to Brains there wasn't anything that could be properly used to help him. If there happened to be any around, he would bring it to Cade for help, but for now he didn't have whatever it was he needed.

America formally apologized to the Autobots for hunting them down, to which Crosshairs scoffed and turned away, grumbling something about "disgusting humans and their empty words", while Drift thanked them but said that they wouldn't be able to do business with anyone other than Cade, Tessa and Shane until Optimus returned. Without really being able to get any other word in, the government agents left. Cade stood back wearily, watching them through the exchange. He wasn't scared of humans. There was just no way in hell he was ever going to be comfortable with government dogs on his lawn ever again.

For good or for evil, one of them was going to shoot his baby girl. There was no chance of him forgiving all that easily.

"You haven't eaten anything today," a voice behind Cade says. The mechanic turns around slightly in his chair from where he was hunched over an old radio that he was fixing up. His eyes brighten up at the sight of his beautiful daughter. He climbs to his feet and walks over to her, pulling her into her arms.

"Welcome home! How was school?" Cade asks.

Tessa rolls her eyes, but hugs him back regardless, smiling a bit when she feels him kiss the top of her head. "It was fine, dad." In her hands is a plate with a sandwich and some chips along with a glass of water.

Cade didn't even give it a second glance as he pulled back. "Did Bumblebee pick you up?"

Tessa shakes her head, walking over to the workbench to lay the food down before turning back to him. "No, Shane's inside the house. He gave me a ride. We ate like an hour ago. I texted you but you never responded." She gives him a look the reminds him much of his late wife. Tessa looked just like her mother. "I asked Hound and he said you haven't left your laboratory since you entered this morning. You haven't eaten all day, I bet. So eat up."

Cade rubs the back of his neck. "Sorry, sweetie, it's just that I'm having a rough time with that radio and I want to get it fixed and out of here as soon as I can. It's just being picky." Not that it was an excuse, but Tessa looked displeased at it regardless.

She points to the plate. "Eat. I'll be here till Monday. So come in and visit when your done."

Cade pouts playfully at his daughter, causing her to roll her eyes again before turning on her heel and heading out of the new lab. Cade waits for her to close the door behind herself before lowering into his seat and picking up his sandwich, taking a bite. It was only then, after that first bite that he realized just how hungry he was and before long he had the entire thing eaten along with all the chips. He chased it down with the water and then went back to work.

People still put things at the end of his driveway for him to fix, even though he doesn't need any money any more, KSI has thoroughly taken care of their needs. Joshua felt bad for basically ruining their lives and almost getting them killed and did it as an apology. Cade has enough money to probably never have to work again and KSI paid in full for Tessa to go through school. Cade could ask for nothing more. And while he's glade he no longer has to worry about money, it doesn't mean he's going to give up on his passion. So while he doesn't need to work anymore, he's still going to.

Cade is famous, in the sense that he is the next "host" for the Autobots as the media has begun referring to him as. Apparently there was a young man before him but there wasn't much available information about it. Cade often wondered if the Autobots knew whatever happened to this boy before him, but he never asked. He wondered if it was taboo. They weren't with him now.

People often come to see him to fix things just to get a peak at the large Autobots that are often walking around his land, wrestling with one another or patrolling the roads. People are a mixture of awe and intimidating. Cade doesn't mind the company much but when there begins to get too many of them, he can always trust in Hound to scare them away. Perhaps scare was the wrong word, he would often make one reason or another for Cade to leave them and he would always be grateful. The Autobots are also good at keeping people from sneaking onto his land. They are much more affective then that pathetic attempt at a guard dog he made. At least they didn't just randomly short circuit.

After a few more hours of tinkering, the radio finally comes to life and he sits back, listening to some rock song he probably heard in his youth. He bobs his head up and down to the beat of the song, closing his eyes. Before it ends, there is a light tapping at the door. Cade leans forward again and looks over his shoulder at the door. He waits a moment for them to come in, but the door remains unopened. If it was Tessa, she would have just walked right in and Shane had no reason to come out to see him.

Cade turns off the radio and stands up, stretching with his arms above his head. Pops crawl up his spine before he drops his hands again and heads for the door. Opening it, he sees Bumblebee, knelt down, tapping the door with his finger. Big blue optics stare back at him.

"What's up, Bee?" he asks, wiping a bit of perspiration from his forehead with the bottom of his shirt. "Need something?"

Bumblebee tilts his head to one side. His vocalizer wiggles a bit and a happy whirl comes out. Then he says in voices over the radio waves, "You have a... visitor... out front."

Cade raises his eyebrows. "A visitor?" he echos. "Who is it?"

"Such a... man has never... been seen around... these parts. Lookin' all official like," Bumblebee says, nodding over his shoulder a bit with his chin.

Cade sighs, running a hand through his hair before stepping passed Bumblebee. "Got it, I'll talk to him." Bumblebee stands up and moves out of the way for the mechanic. Cade looks over at the car in his driveway in front of the house. A sleek black SUV is parked out front with a man in a dark suit standing next to it. Looking up at Hound, staring at him from just ten feet away, opposite of the house, cigar in his mouth, casually cleaning one of his many guns and eyeing the trespassing human with a critical eye. Daring him to do anything fishy.

Cade smiles a bit, making his way over to the vehicle and man next to it.

"Human insisted on speaking to ya, Cade," Hound grunts, moving his cigar around in his mouth. The man looks at him wearily, before turning to Cade, a bit more relieved now that a fellow human is in close proximity.

"Thanks, Hound," Cade says, walking up to the man.

"Mr. Yeager," the finely dressed man says, holding out a hand for Cade to shake. He didn't want to, but out of the premise of being friendly, takes it and shakes it firmly. "It's so nice to finely get to meet you. I'm David Schneider. I'm here to formally request your aid in a sort of... situation, that my employer would like dealt with smoothly and with a bit of..." he stops to consider before reaching up and pulling his sunglasses off to look at Cade meaningfully. "...finesse."

Cade stares at the man before him for a few second, mutely. There was a hidden message in there, Cade just knows it. But he has no idea what the man is trying to say. And an inquisitive look over at Hound and Bumblebee and seeing their curiously unknowing looks, makes Cade think that they don't know either. He looks back at the friendly smiling man, trying to decide if the smile is genuine or not. The mechanic was never all that good at reading people. With robots it was easy to tell what they were thinking. Because they weren't thinking at all. Which ultimately brought Cade back full circle to robots and souls.

But now is not the time for that.

"Listen here, Mr. Uh, Schneider, was it?" The man nods. Cade puts his hand over his eyes like a visor. Even in the late evening, the sun is still blazing. "Well, Mr. Schneider, I'm not exactly sure I understand what you are trying to say. Now if you have something that needs to be repaired, well, that I can take a look into. But I'm not exactly in the shady business of dealing with things 'smoothly'," he says putting air quotes around the word smoothly and "with 'finesse'."

The man presses his lips together in thought for a moment, trying to think of another way of saying this without coming out and just saying it. "My boss would like to talk to you, Mr. Yeager, in private, if you would?" he smiles again and Cade's eyebrows pull together. Cade didn't get this far in life by just his good looks and something in his gut keeps his feet planted.

"Is he in there?" Cade asks, nodding toward the SUV.

The man shakes his head. "Um, no."

Cade nods, more to himself than to the man. "Well, my daughter just got home for the weekend so I am going to be sticking around here. When Monday rolls around and your boss still wants to talk to me, _about something that I can fix," _he says meaningfully, "then tell him to come see me. Otherwise, I don't make house calls unless they are really important."

"But-" the man says, opening his mouth to protest, making a grabbing motion toward Cade. The mechanic steps back, getting out of arm's reach.

"Hey," Hound growls, narrowing his eyes dangerously as the two bots tense up. "Don't touch him or I'll rip your little arms off."

Schneider holds his hands up in surrender. "Okay, okay, sorry."

Bumblebee, who's battle mask easily slipped into place, waggles his finger at the suited man. "I wouldn't do that... if I were you." The man waves his surrendering hands in the air to show that they are still there.

"Tell your boss to come see me Monday if it's really important," Cade says, staring at the man. "Now go on."

Schneider hesitates for a moment, looking around as if wondering if there was a chance he could somehow convince Cade to reconsider and go with him. But after looking and seeing Hound slowly shaking his head as if to say, "there's not a snowball's chance in hell" his shoulders slump in defeat. He nods and heads for his car's driver's side door. He hopes in and starts the car, rolling down the windows.

"Let me know if you reconsider," he says, digging around in the glove compartment before pulling out a slip of paper before scribbling something down on it and offering it to the mechanic. Cade, against his better judgement, walks over and takes it, pulling back before the guy can try and grab at him. The man backs the car up, turns it around and then drives down the driveway and then down the road.

"Slagging humans," Hound says, shaking his head.

Cade shakes his head and heads for the house. "Thanks for the muscle, guys." He waves his hand around, walking up the steps to the porch. He walks inside just in time to hear Shane and Tessa both bust out laughing. Cade follows the noise to the living room to see them both curled up on the couch together. Cade stands back behind the couch, watching them watch some comedy. He smiles faintly when Tessa throws her head back to laugh at some joke that went over Cade's head. Shane looks down at her, murmuring something that Cade couldn't catch.

"Yeah," Tessa says, laying her head on his chest and continues to watch the show. Finally, Cade walks over and leans down to kiss to top of Tessa's head. She jumps a bit but then smiles up at him. "Hey, Dad," she says. "Sit down and watch with us."

He agrees, walking over to the armchair next to the couch and sits. He doesn't really watch the show and settles for smiling whenever the other two laugh, but his focus is out the window across from him. Watching as the sky darkens and night finally comes. Cade watches as the stars shine brightly, the show ends and another starts. A marathon, Tessa murmured as Shane smoothed down her long blond hair.

"How are you, Lucky Charms?" Cade says at a commercial.

The sandy blond haired man looks over at the mechanic over his girlfriend's head. He grins. "I thought I told you to stop calling me that."

Cade snorts, shaking his head. "And I thought I told you to stop dating my daughter," he jokes. "Looks like we both don't get what we want. Now, answer the damn question, brat."

Tessa smiles at their antics. Shane just shrugs his shoulders a bit. "My jobs doing good. Everything's good. How about you, old man?" He grins at the dry look Cade sends his way.

"I'm fine too." They all settle into silence once more when the show comes back on.

After the fifth or so episode, Cade excused himself for some fresh air. He wasn't really one to just sit in front of a t.v mindlessly. He wasn't all that sure how kids these days could. It had cooled down significantly in the few short hours that he's been inside. He looks around at the Autobots walking around the perimeter of the yard one last time before settling down for the night.

Cade turns his gaze to the stars wondering if one of them could be Optimus. Wondering if perhaps one day the Autobot leader could return in his lifetime. If he could be lucid enough to remember the bot he can now simply refer to as "friend." A human's life in but a bug's in comparison to a Cybertronian's. Will the red and blue Autobot leader return in Tessa's lifetime? Or Tessa's children? Cade has absolutely no way of knowing for sure. He may never return. He could have run into his creators and could have-

No! Cade mustn't think like that. Optimus is strong, he can survive. Cade believes in him. He must. Otherwise, he doesn't know what to think. Or to do.

"Come back soon, Optimus," Cade whispers to the stars, hoping that they will somehow be able to ferry the message through the cosmos to the wayward Autobot leader.


End file.
